Sam Rae (Hawke, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Aged Care and Seniors) Share this | Hansard source

I'm absolutely honoured to rise here as the re-elected member for Hawke and as the Minister for Aged Care and Seniors. I'd like to start by thanking the people of Hawke—from Sunbury and Diggers Rest to Melton, Hillside, Ballan and Bacchus Marsh and from across parts of Hume, Melton, Moorabool, Brimbank and Wyndham—for putting your trust in me to fight for our community. I will continue working hard every day to serve you.

This election was a historic win for the Labor Party and for our Labor movement. I want to pay tribute to the Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese; the Deputy Prime Minister, Richard Marles; ALP National Secretary Paul Erickson and ALP National Assistant Secretary Jen Light for their extraordinary leadership. I also want to thank the Victorian Labor team, led by Steve Staikos and Jett Fogarty, who delivered an incredible result in Victoria and showed once again the strength of our Victorian movement.

Can I welcome and congratulate the new members of the Labor caucus from Victoria—so many friends amongst them: Alice Jordan-Baird in Gorton; Basem Abdo in Calwell; Matt Gregg in Deakin; Gabriel Ng in Menzies; Sarah Witty in Melbourne; Jo Briskey—this legend here—in Maribyrnong; as well as the former member for Higgins, and now senator, Michelle Ananda-Rajah. Each and every single one of these people is working extremely hard every day for their community—here in the federal parliament and at home. I am proud and honoured to work alongside you.

Australians went to the polls on 3 May asking for real cost-of-living relief. They were given a choice between a government delivering lower taxes, lower inflation and higher wages, and an opposition obsessed with waste, who promised to legislate higher taxes for every Australian taxpayer. The scale of the Albanese Labor government's victory and our mandate shouldn't be surprising. We listened to Australians, we made a promise to deliver on the things that matter to them and we haven't wasted a single moment getting on with the job.

From 1 October this year, first homebuyers will be able to purchase with a five per cent deposit without paying lenders mortgage insurance. This was brought forward so that more Australian families can get the keys to their first place sooner. That's practical help for millions of families across Australia, including in my electorate of Hawke. We passed legislation to cut student debt by 20 per cent, wiping billions from the balances of around three million Australians, and lifting the minimum repayment threshold—fairness for the graduates and apprentices who keep our economy moving. From 1 July we extended energy bill relief with an extra $150 off household power bills in the second half of this year, helping families while inflation continues to moderate.

We've backed this with investment in skills. Fee-free TAFE is becoming a permanent feature of our training system, building a pipeline of workers in priority areas like construction, clean energy and care. That's critically important to me in my role as Minister for Aged Care and Seniors. We've made medicines cheaper with 60-day prescriptions, and now we're capping scripts so that Australians will pay no more than $25 under the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme. Labor's free TAFE program—just another thing the opposition threatened to gut—delivers training for our next generation of workers, allowing young people to access the qualifications they need at no cost.

My home, Hawke, is one of the fastest-growing parts of the country, and it's where I'm proud to be raising my family. People move west for affordability, for community and for opportunity. Our responsibility to them is to make sure that services keep pace with their ambition. I was proud to make commitments throughout that campaign that I know will make a difference to families in my community. This included $1 billion to upgrade the Western Freeway, and we backed in the electrification of the Melton line—both of which my community has campaigned hard for.

Upgrades to Sunshine station are also essential for airport rail to become a reality and to deliver faster travel for commuters from the west. We'll build the diamond interchange at Calder Park Drive to finally fix one of the region's most dangerous and congested pinch points. We promise to deliver the Bacchus Marsh indoor pool, which I know many families—including my own—are excited about. These are real investments that cut travel time, improve safety and connect people to their jobs.

As the newly appointed Minister for Aged Care and Seniors, my priority is to deliver the historic reforms to our aged-care sector that will give older Australians the safe, dignified and high-quality care that they have always deserved but which a system neglected for a decade was failing to provide. We're hard at work preparing for the transition to the new Aged Care Act on 1 November, which will put the rights of older people first and make our aged-care system more sustainable for generations to come. The Support at Home program will also kick in to replace the old home-care packages program, giving people higher levels of care so that they can stay in the comfort of their own homes and communities for longer.

We've already delivered historic pay rises for aged-care workers, because valuing care means valuing our dedicated, hardworking, highly qualified and passionate carers and nurses who work around the clock to care for our loved ones.

Locally, aged care matters. In a community where parents are caring for their own parents while raising kids and paying mortgages, reliable home support, properly staffed residential services and fair worker pay are not abstract policies; they help local families every single day. We're strengthening Medicare and investing in bulk-billing, primary care and the urgent care network so that people can get help earlier and stay out of hospital. I'm proud to say that the Medicare urgent care clinics are now operating in Melton and Sunbury, providing free, extended-hours, walk-in care for urgent but non-life-threatening needs, taking pressure off emergency departments and saving families time and money.

Doorknocking across Hawke through the election, I met dozens of families who have used these services, whether it's for sick kids or injuries on the footy field. In fact, my own family has seen the inside of the urgent care centre pretty regularly, and we're very grateful for the care and support that the nurses and doctors there continue to provide. Labor governments will always protect and strengthen Medicare, and I'm proud to see firsthand the differences that these policies make to families in my community.

People in Hawke are often young first home buyers looking to settle down close to essential services. Homes for Australia is the centrepiece of the Albanese Labor government's plan to cut costs and give Australians a leg up. Already Labor's expanded Home Guarantee Scheme is helping first home buyers into a home of their own, with a five per cent deposit and no lenders mortgage insurance. We've delivered a 45 per cent increase in Commonwealth rent assistance, the biggest back-to-back increases in more than 30 years. We've started the biggest housing build in Australia's history, with an ambitious plan to build 1.2 million homes over the next five years, and we're delivering 55,000 social and affordable rental homes for the Australians that need them most. Our promise and our plan is simple: more supply, the right infrastructure and practical help to get first home buyers into the market.

The election result in Hawke was a massive team effort. We knocked on thousands of doors and made thousands of phone calls to the community. To our Hawke Labor branches and branch members: you are the foundation of everything that we do. To Daryl Baker, Derrick Simpson, Chris Wells and the whole team at the Bacchus Marsh branch: thank you for putting in the work and turning up every day against incredibly difficult opponents. To Geoff Dawson, Ravinder Kaur, Nathan Miles, Nat Davies, Bob and Jean Rau, Jasmeen Kaur, Rhonda Edmonds, Barry Agg, Jarrod Bell, Ross van Brink, Anthony Rhodes, Andrew Jeynes, and Kylie Spencer: thank you for your hard work on the ground. To the Ballarat East branch and all the legends in Ballan: I'm incredibly grateful for your hard work. To Jesse, Amy, Shammi, Josh and everyone from Josh Bull's office: thank you for your support. Thanks also to Michaela Settle and Steve McGhie for your support and friendship throughout the campaign. To our legendary field team: Nordin Hammouche, Gabi Saffer, Erin Kelly, Oscar Dobson, Ryan Drage, Dennis Southon, Bella Conroy, Tal Pelach and the crew at ACT Young Labor: thank you for your doorknocks, your phone calls, your hours spent on prepoll and the respect that you afforded to my people across our community.

Thank you to Millie Page and Henry Fox, who led the campaign efforts with humour and determination—two extraordinary young people who will continue to make such a profound impact on our community and our country moving forward. To my office manager, Di McAuliffe, and our electorate office staff: thank you for keeping everything steady, organised and running smoothly behind the scenes. To Avtar, Gurdashan and the community at Khalsa Shaouni: thank you for your friendship, your faith and your overwhelming support. To my friend Sam Lynch and the mighty Transport Workers Union—my union—thank you for being there every step of the way. And to the RTBU, the AMWU, the HSU and HACSU: thank you for standing up for working people and for standing with us through this campaign. To the Victorian Trades Hall: thanks for backing us and for fuelling this campaign with your strength and your solidarity.

To my mum, Penny, and to my partner, Zoe, and our kids Hunny, Banjo and Mac: thank you for keeping me grounded. I couldn't do any of this without your extraordinary love and your support, and I love you all so very much.

Serving the people of Hawke over the past three years has truly been the greatest privilege of my professional life. Earning your support and your trust to represent our community for another three years continues to be the honour of my professional life. My job in this place is to make sure that prosperity and the opportunity of our nation reaches every street across Hawke. That means safer and quicker commutes, more local training for the jobs that are hiring, a stronger Medicare and cheaper medicines, and care that treats every Australian with dignity. There's a big job ahead of us but, as your local member, that is exactly what I'll be fighting to deliver.

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